Writing Skills 1

1. Writing Skills 1 Sentences

2. Unit 2: The Writer’s Voice This unit is assessed by a two part exam. In the first part you write on Of Mice and Men. In the second part you complete a writing task.

3. Section B One writing task. You must demonstrate your skills in reflecting on ideas, issues, experiences and events. You will be asked to write in a particular form, such as a newspaper article, formal report or magazine review. You will also be given a specific target audience to write for. The task will be based on current issues, situations or problems that regularly affect young people.

4. Assessment Objectives • Write to communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively. Write using different forms and styles. Select vocabulary relevant to audience and purpose. • Organise information and ideas clearly using paragraphs. Use linking devices in your writing so your answer is cohesive. • Use a range of sentence structures for clarity and effect. Accurate punctuation and spelling.

5. Writing Sentences There are several different types of sentences. In your assessments you need to make sure you are using a variety of sentence structures. This makes your writing more fluent and pleasant to read.

6. Sentences Sentences are made up of units called clauses. A clause has a subject, a verb and often an object Subject: a person, place or thing Verb: an action, Object: Receives the verb

7. Simple Sentences A simple sentence only has one clause Eg A book fell on John’s foot

8. Compound Sentences A compound sentence has two clauses Eg A book fell on John’s foot and a book fell on Mary’s foot. The two clauses in a compound sentence can make sense on their own: A book fell on John’s foot. A book fell on Mary’s foot.

9. Complex sentences A complex sentence has more than one clause. Eg A book fell on John’s foot while he was writing. In complex sentences, one of the clauses is subordinate- it doesn’t make sense on its own. A book fell on John’s foot While he was writing We can’t start a sentence with ‘while’ – this is dependent on the first sentence

10. Connectives Compound and complex sentences can be joined by connectives. connectives

11. Punctuation We can also use punctuation to join up clauses into sentences. What types of punctuation can we use? Commas ‘ Semicolons ;

12. Commas Commas are used for subordinate clauses: While I was listening to the radio, my cat ate her dinner. My brother, who is 20 next birthday, still can’t use a washing machine.

13. Semicolons Semicolons are used to join together two simple sentences / clauses that make sense on their own that are related in theme Miss Townsend left school for the day; she was very happy.

14. Now try writing: • A simple sentence (one clause) • A compound sentence (two clauses which both could make sense standing alone) • A complex sentence (includes one subordinate clause)

15. Using different sentences We went to the park. It was sunny. It was warm. We had fun. We flew kites. We ate snacks. We can ask ourselves three things: • Does it make sense? • Is it grammatically correct? • Is it well-written?

16. How do we make our writing fluent? Making your writing fluent means paying attention to how your sentences sound as well as whether they are grammatically correct. We can make our writing more fluent by using a variety of sentence structures: • Short sentences for emphasis • Long, complex sentences to explain ideas or give details • Varying the beginnings of sentences and using connectors

17. For example…. We went to the park. It was sunny. It was warm. We had fun. We flew kites. We ate snacks. OR We spent a warm, sunny day at the park. When we got hungry we had a snack. Later on, we flew kites high in the sky. It was a great day!

18. Now try improving this paragraph: The boy was alone in the cemetery. It was dark. It was gloomy. The boy saw something. He was scared. It was a vampire. The vampire was chasing him. He was scared. The vampire caught him. The vampire bit him. He was dead.

19. Writing Skills 2 PAF

20. Writing All pieces of writing you do have: P A F

21. Purposes: Audiences: Formats:

22. These affect other decisions you make • Formal / Informal • Layout • Language Can you think of any more?

23. What do we mean by Formal? Situations…. Language…..

24. What do we mean by Informal? Situations…. Language…..

25. Writing Skills 3 Writing to inform and Newspaper articles

26. Writing to inform Newspaper articles are often used to tell people about events or other interesting information. Task: Write an informative article about the dangers of social networking for young people.

27. PAF! First, make sure you are clear on your PAF. Purpose: Inform Audience: Young people Format: Newspaper article

28. This piece of writing will be formal because it is a newspaper article about a serious issue, even if some of the language might be tailored for young people. You should never use columns when writing an exam answer, but you should try and include a headline and if you want you could also have a subheading.

29. Informative writing should include: • Clear introduction • Background information • A wide range of different aspects of the topic • Technical language, perhaps explained • Logical organisation • Clear links between paragraphs • Interviews • Facts / statistics

30. Plan Headline: Subheading: Intro: Para 1: Para 2: Para 3: Para 4: Concluding paragraph:

31. Writing Skills 4 Writing to persuade and Speeches

32. Writing to Persuade Speeches are often delivered to persuade people about ideas or initiatives. When trying to persuade others, people often use persuasive language techniques in their speech and writing. Have a look at the table of persuasive language techniques. Can you fill in the gaps? You need to use as many of these as possible so the examiner can give you credit for recognising the purpose of your task.

33. Imagine that St Cuthbert Mayne has decided to lengthen the school day by two hours. The new school day will start at 7.45 and end at 4.20. This is so students have time to fit in more lessons. You are the leader of a campaign against this change amongst students. You must write a speech to address the rest of your year group, persuading them that this is a terrible idea and encouraging them to join your ‘NO’ campaign. P A F

34. Plan What arguments / points will you make to win over the student body to your opinion?

35. Structure Intro / Initial address Para 1: Para 2: Para 3: Concluding / summarising paragraph:

36. DON’T FORGET You need to try and use as many of the persuasive features as possible! Try writing at least the following for your speech: • A rhetorical question • A rule of three • Alliteration • Fact / statistic • Simile

37. Writing Skills 5 Re-cap and Letters

38. Re-cap: Sentence structures • Simple Sentences: Sentence with one clause • Compound sentences: two simple sentences joined by a , ; or connective • Complex sentences: more than one clause, including a subordinate clause • (Subordinate clause: dependent on the rest of the sentence) To join clauses and simple sentences, we can use CONNECTIVES or PUNCTUATION

39. Joining clauses and simple sentences CONNECTIVES • But • However • Because • Although Sentence Starters: • Therefore • Furthermore PUNCTUATION • ; to join two sentences that would stand on their own (simple sentences) that are related • , commas can be used for subordinate clauses

40. Improve this paragraph: Joe looked at the sky. It was sunny. Joe decided to go to the park. He wanted to go with his friends. He called them. One of his friends couldn’t make it. The rest of them went to the park. They had a great time.

41. Writing Cohesively In this part of the exam the examiner will also look at whether you can write cohesively. Is your writing organised and fluent? • You must write in PARAGRAPHS. • When there is a change in the subject or a new point within the same subject. • Also, try and link your paragraphs together as you go along….

42. FORMAT So far we have practised descriptive writing, a newspaper article, and a speech What other formats do you think you could be asked to write? • Reports • Letters • Emails

43. Letters What are the features of letters? • Address • Date • Yours faithfully- don’t know name • Yours sincerely- do know name

44. Writing a Letter Here’s an example task: Write a letter to your local council explaining why it is so important to have a Torbay Youth Advice Centre.

45. How to plan?